Posted on 02/27/2024 1:29:00 PM PST by nickcarraway
— Being the target of social media misinformation "can happen to anybody"
Dartmouth Health otolaryngologist Andrew Spector, MD, was in the operating room Friday afternoon when he started getting urgent calls and texts from an administrator.
Between cases, he called her back, and she told him people were calling and emailing Dartmouth Health about a TikTok video where a man driving a Toyota yells racist slurs at a woman.
Social media had decided it was Spector behind the wheel of that vehicle -- even though it wasn't.
"It's not me in the video," Spector told MedPage Today in an interview. "This is a case of mistaken identity."
Regardless, the threatening messages started coming. "People started saying, 'We're going to find you. We're coming for you and your family,'" Spector said. "My wife was getting some menacing messages on Facebook from random people, as was I."
The video, posted by @priceless_nina on TikTokopens in a new tab or window, shows a man leveling a racist slur at the woman taking the video. He then reaches out and appears to try to grab her phone as he drives by. He calls her the racist slur again as he drives away, and then his Massachusetts license plate comes into view.
"Internet detectives looked up this person's license plate, and ... the vehicle was registered to someone named Andrew Spector from Woburn, Massachusetts," Spector said. "That's not me."
Nonetheless, speculation abounded, with people jumping to conclusions after seeing Spector's Dartmouth Health physician profile onlineopens in a new tab or window.
"I have the unfortunate genetics that I am bald, and so is the driver of the vehicle who was saying these horrible racist things to this woman," Spector said, noting that people also speculated the driver might instead be related to him.
"I have no relationship to the man in the video," he said. "I am not his brother. I am not his father."
The original TikTok post has more than half a million likes and over 20,000 comments. It was widely picked up by other social media accounts, including a YouTube channel with more than 1 million subscribersopens in a new tab or window and an Instagram account with almost 200,000 followersopens in a new tab or window.
Commenters urged each other to post negative reviews on his physician profiles, Spector said.
"The word that comes to mind is defamation," he said. "I've been in the same practice since 2005 and with Dartmouth Health since 2014 -- so nearly 20 years of establishing an excellent reputation of taking quality and compassionate care of my patients and community."
"With a couple of keystrokes, that's been tarnished," he said.
Dartmouth Health helped him tremendously, he said, urging him to call his local police department to report the incident, and issuing a press release on his predicament to help him begin to recover his reputation.
"If I were in private practice and I didn't have the backing of Dartmouth behind me, this would have been absolutely ruinous," he said.
Cassidy Smith, a spokesperson for Dartmouth Health, said that Spector is a "fantastic clinician and it was so clear he was being unfairly targeted." Helping to get the word out "just felt like the right thing to do," she added. "We protect our people."
Spector is clear that the person who sustained the most harm is the woman who posted the video.
"Make no mistake, the victim is the woman who recorded the video of some horrible person slinging racial epithets at her and verbally abusing her," he said.
But his case does speak to a deeper societal problem, he said: the "irresponsible use of the internet and social media," to which medicine is no stranger.
"It's easy to click a button on a keyboard without looking somebody in the face and saying negative remarks," he said. "Misinformation spreads much more quickly than the truth does. And once the truth has been established, it seems like the [news] cycle ... has passed."
He said he hopes his case serves as a warning that "this can happen to anybody" and that it opens up a wider discussion about responsible use of social media.
"The last 72 hours have been a bit of a nightmare," said Spector.
Kristina Fiore leads MedPage’s enterprise & investigative reporting team. She’s been a medical journalist for more than a decade and her work has been recognized by Barlett & Steele, AHCJ, SABEW, and others. Send story tips to k.fiore@medpagetoday.com. Follow
Shoot first.
“So they tried to interrupt an operation?”
Do doctors take their phones into the operating room?
I didn’t see what the racist slurs he allegedly said. Was it “You NASCAR driver!” or “You grand prix tire changer!” ?
The jerk driving the Toyota is from Woburn, MA. Pronounced "Woobin" for those not from MA.
I wonder if they ever identified the actual person who did it. He’ll sure be in hot water.
America’s red guards are always ready for battle
These days? I shudder to think. They probably have the nurse hold it up to their ears, or put it on speaker.
It doesn’t matter. He should be fired and cancelled, to send a message.
So they located him? Is HE getting any calls? The doctor sure had a rough ride from that man’s actions.
Always eager for battle. Wait until the media promotes an AI of Trump yelling racial slurs.
“...Spector is clear that the person who sustained the most harm is the woman who posted the video.”
I want to know the context. Why did he yell at her and try to grab her phone? Was she innocent, or did she deserve it?
As usual commie tiktok and instagram users are being niggardly with the facts. BUT that’s OK because GET WHITEY. Facts be damned.
“Make no mistake, the victim is the woman who recorded the video of some horrible person slinging racial epithets at her and verbally abusing her,” …”
At one time this whole thing wouldn’t have been on anyone’s mind for more than a few seconds and that includes the woman who was insulted. Now thousands or millions lose what little they had left of their minds. Some guy yelled something nasty. Big woop.
Dr. Spector denies being related to the jerk from Woburn, Massachusetts. Maybe while he is at it he should deny being related to Arlen “Scottish law” Spector, the late senator.
It’s time to remove every last Marxist from our country and send them to the communist country of their choice to permanently stay, because they are biased against freedom and cannot participate in our republic.
yes from the administrator
Is the doctor registered as a democrat?
I need to know that also before I care.
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